about

There’s a certain sadness, a cheerful joy, an eerie presence, a bag of riffs and lot of humour, and rumours here and
there of some of music’s (particularly sixties music’s) best outfits.

It’s Glamour and Fame the new long-player from Australia’s The Jimmy C, a band whose members look exactly like one guy, Jamie Coghill, a drummer. Well we thought he was a drummer until he got settled in his spare room and began writing and recording a
hugely eclectic range of songs with a lot of heart and a bold confidence bordering on impudence.

And this really is a solo album. He lets his wife sing a verse on one song. Other than that this is all, The Jimmy C – a one man brilliant bunch of guys. The spirit of the record might have suffered from guest players anyway because Jamie has a clear vision of how The Jimmy C should sound, and if you can do it yourself, if you’re clever and talented enough, why not enforce the lock out and let your imagination run free. A lot of us would like to do the same except we’re not very clever and far less talented. In other words Jamie’s songs are in the hands of an expert producer as soon as they’re written.

Like all good albums it sounds a little like many things but not enough to suggest there’s been any over-listening to any of the bands which are hinted at here and there. You might find whispers of Ennio Morricone and The Small Faces in the same song. Banks of stunning harmonies, beautifully executed and certainly informed by The Beach Boys, but not overwhelmingly. (Although the 35 second a Capella stunner “Sunny Day Segue” actually could be The Beach Boys. Seriously.)

We have some cheeky, hokey, doffing of the cowboy hat to the grand Ole Opry, and flourishes of Pink Floyd post-Syd pre-Dark
Side psych-outs; the elusive vocals on “A Certain Sadness (Part 1)” are spookily just out of reach, but close enough for a cheeky
verse of “A Day In The Life” to be murmuring beneath.

If you needed to describe The Jimmy C in a few sentences, and that’s quite a challenge, you might suggest the record consistently pays tribute to the best of the second half of the sixties. But then there’s something like “(Untitled)”, 35 seconds of charming percussive innovation which struck me as almost unprecedented, in my collection anyway, and that one’s followed by a wistful infuriatingly catchy pop tune, “Maybe Next Year”, a kind of lament for unfulfilled moments, but almost a piss-take of rock’n’roll cliché too. Later there’s a twangin’ surf instrumental similar to The Ventures playing with the Pretty Things.

Remember this album was recorded and mixed by The Jimmy C in Jimmy C’s house. The clarity of these highly inventive superbly arranged tunes is testament to Jamie’s subtle skills when employing only a fraction of the hardware you’d find in a large studio. You hear new delights on every listen.

This is confident effortless music. Saturated in melody and multi-instrumentation, and alive with so many ideas you’re never quite ready for the songs to finish. Wherever The Jimmy C goes next I’ll be climbing aboard for another ride.

Michael Witheford
February 2010

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The Jimmy CMelbourne, Australia

The Jimmy C is a recording project for Jamie Coghill - mediocre multi-instrumentalist & drummer with The Devilrock Four
(previously Fez Perez, Luxedo & Just). Starting in 2005 with Project E.G.O: a hand made run of 50 CDs given to friends and anyone interested. 3 albums later, no one has punched me in the nose and told me to stop so I continue to write silly songs and make albums at home....more

I'm gonna keep it all for myself
It's all for me
Everything for my self

Track Name: Just A Fool

Just A Fool.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Lost your love threw it away one of many of life's mistakes
Left your home walked away away cancelled phone no milk today

You're just a fool (they don't care what you do)
You're just a fool (they hardly notice you)
You're just a fool (nobody looks at you)
You're just a fool (nobody cares for you)
But when you're wearin' a smile everybody smiles back at you

It's after you your horse is dead gotta keep moving or you'll lose your head
They're on your tail swords are drawn climb in the carcass and wait 'till dawn

You're just a fool (they don't care what you do)
You're just a fool (they hardly notice you)
You're just a fool (nobody looks at you)
You're just a fool (nobody cares for you)
But when you're wearin' a smile everybody smiles back at you

(solo)
(Simultaneous Chorus and verse 1)

You're just a fool (they don't care what you do)
You're just a fool (they hardly notice you)
You're just a fool (nobody looks at you)
You're just a fool (nobody cares for you)
But when you're wearin' a smile everybody smiles back at you

Track Name: Maybe Next Year

Maybe Next Year.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Maybe next year I'll be a success
I'll spend all my life having sex
With the girl that I live and love her so And she knows who she is

Maybe next year I'll get a tattoo
Perhaps of a girl in the nude
My friends and associates (big deal) will think that I'm so cool

Look at me I'm rich and famous
Look at me I'll never satisfy myself or those around me

Maybe next year I'll be an old man
Knowing I've done all that I can
To live on top of the world (oh boy) have pity on this old fool

My bones are aching my skin is cold but the dirt feels war around my feet

My bones are aching and my skin is cold
(my bones are aching)
But the dust feels warm and firm around my feet

My legacy is just a hand full of broken teeth
(my legacy)
And my skull can't hold the memory of my life

If Heaven's real and Jesus was all he said he was
I'll be singing dead songs for dead people in hell

Shadows come a creeping and my eyes have turned to dust
(shadows come a creeping)
And I can't see a way out of this place

Track Name: Ghost Of A man

Ghost Of A Man.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Here she sits alone in a room, tears down her face
His body's cooling still in it's tomb, no darker place

He couldn't comfort her anyway
He couldn't comfort her anyway

As he watches she's grieving for him, ghost of a man
She pulls the razor over her wrist, blood fills her hand

He couldn't comfort her anyway
He couldn't comfort her anyway

Pain is over together again, two spirits fly
As her mother brings her some tea, cups break she cries

He couldn't comfort her anyway
He couldn't comfort her anyway
He couldn't comfort her anyway
He couldn't comfort her anyway

Track Name: Kings In Town

Kings In Town.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

A sunny day in Kensingtown where people smile and lecture one-another
A sunny day in Kensingtown where a little girl throws a chair at her mother

And later on when the sun goes down the gangs will walk the street
The people stomp their feet and think about another sunny day

A sunny day in Kensingtown Where home owner's laugh and swear at each other
A sunny day in Kensingtown Where junkies ask for "Jason" and run for cover

And after dinner when the TV's on and the kids are all in bed
Dad will scratch his head and wonder if he'll see another day
And even later when the lights go out and the moon is alone in the sky
No one wonders why we struggle 'till another sunny
Stop and think about a sunny
Think about another sunny day

Track Name: Sunny Day Segue

Sunny Day Segue
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Your sunny day is over the night has come through
Sleep little dreamer do
The stars come out, the moon lights their way
Moon beams and Starlight play
But your sunny day is over the night has come through
Sleep little dreamer true

Track Name: They'll Understand

They'll Understand.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Once I'd everything I need
And I always played the fool
Once I thought I'd be believed
Now I'll try to make it good

One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)

Once they see what I've achieved
Then they'll know what I can do
Once they've heard they'll all agree
I can fail as well as you

One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(We'll hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(Don't you hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand
(Don't you hear them singing, the sad days are over)
One Day We Know They'll Understand

Take a look and you'll see you & I in love (repeat)
Look and you'll find (repeat)

All eyes were waiting as he opened the door into her room where she lay
Pale hands were shaking as he pulled back the sheet over her face cold and gray

There's something different in the air
A certain sadness that will bring you down
There's something missing deep inside
A saddening chill that comes around

Silently screaming the look on her face back through the door which she came
Cloudy and raining pale as the day her face and his were the same

There's something different in the air
A certain sadness that will bring you down
There's something missing deep inside
A saddening chill that comes around

Two silver figures peaceful and calm silently drift in the night
Frightened they gathered round the young man lifeless and pale in the night
Lifeless and pale in the night
Lifeless and pale in the night

Track Name: You Look Like A Loser

You Look Like A Loser.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

You look like a loser but you think you're cool so I guess that's all that counts
I wrote you a cheque for eighty-five dollars and I pray it's gonna bounce
Your stupid white shades and your over-print shirt
I want to step on your neck and push your face in the dirt
You look like a loser but you act like a million bucks
Gyee Huck!

Track Name: The Back Roads To Ruin

The Back Roads To Ruin.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

Down that road a ways
Is the house I grew up in
Near that town
Where people go to die

All along the back roads to ruin
Down that road and straight through the dead end

Here and there
The kids that I went to school with
From broken homes
And even broker minds

All along the back roads to ruin
A missing boy in a missing grave

(solo)

All along the back roads to ruin
A missing boy in a missing grave
All along the back roads to ruin
Down that road and straight through the dead end

Track Name: Man Of My Word

Man Of My Word.
Music & lyrics by The Jimmy C (Jamie Coghill).

If I was a drinkin' man I'd drink like Richard Burton
I'd be stone dead in under 30 days
If I was a junkie I'd live like William Burroughs
Talkin' shit well into my old age

The things I do to excess
There's no doubt they're the key to my success

Don't get me wrong I'm a man of my word
Don't just assume I'm not contageous
Don't get me wrong I'm a man of my word
I'll roll away the rock of ages

Kill my blood with sugar
And I kill my teeth with the same
Never been a world-class lover
And i never will be again

The things I do to impress
Won't make the ladies undress

Don't get me wrong I'm a man of my word
Don't just assume I'm not contageous
Don't get me wrong I'm a man of my word
I'll roll away the rock of ages